Sarlona
Geography
Sarlona lies opposite Khorvaire and north of Argonnessen. It stretches from southern tropics to northern tundras and includes a number of inland lakes that are large enough to support navies and maritime trade. It has seas on all fronts, the Sea of Rage to the West, the White Sea to the North and the Barren Sea to the South-East. Sarlona is larger than Khorvaire, its Northern apex in the Tashana Tundra measured down to its Southern antapex in Adar is roughly over 3300 miles.
Most forms of geography can be found in Sarlona from the Tashana Tundra to the plains of Syrkarn to the mountains of Adar and to the desert of Riedra. The weather in Sarlona is more unpredictable and harsher than that of Khorvaire's with many storms of which most are focussed in Adar. Sarlona has frequent and unexplanable planar effects unlike any other continent in Eberron. It is frequently the host to extraplanar breaches, manifest zones and reality storms that effect the landscape and physics of the land
Ecosystem
Sarlona is slightly larger than Khorvaire, and its geography covers a wide range. The open steppes and savannah of the Tundra and Syrkarn give way to mountains along the Riedran frontier of both lands. To the south, the peaks of Adar thrust up like spikes from the Sea of Lost Souls. Midcontinent, the great desert of Andnemun straddles the border of Syrkarn and Borunan. The huge inland seas of Kelneluun and Rhialuun are the centerpieces of life in Riedra's northern provinces, while dense forest spreads along the eastern coast.
Much of Sarlona is agrarian, from the thousands of similar farming villages of Riedra to the open grasslands of the Tundra and Syrkarn. In its own way, Adar has an agrarian society to rival Syrkarn's, but the Syrks enjoy bounty that the hardscrabble folk of Adar can only envy. Clinging to the ridges and valleys of the nearly impassable mountains, Adar is less a single region than countless bands of climate and geography rising from valley floor to high peak.
Weather in Sarlona would likely be harsh enough, but uncontrolled planar magic also rips across this land, often with deadly effect. Planar breaches and manifest zones are common across the continent. The worst of these wild zones are sealed off by edict of the Inspired, who have created an entire branch of the Riedran military—the Edgewalkers—to contain such disturbances. Even outside these permanent wild zones, smaller breaches flare and fade at random, churning the land to chaos or leaving freakish weather in their wake. In the Tundra, the aukuraks (reality storms) cut across the plains, and those who travel there learn to avoid them.Localized Phenomena
Wild Zones
Planar energy bathes Sarlona like no other place on Eberron. This energy results in roaming reality storms in the Tashana Tundra. In other areas, the manifest zones do not move, but they are far larger and stronger. A wild zone represents a true blending of the planes involved. The results are never uniform, but they are always dramatic and often deadly.
A number of rules apply to all wild zones. The plane linked to the wild zone is always considered to be coterminous within the region, and it is considered to be a manifest zone for the purpose of feats or effects linked to manifest zones. Furthermore, the region is considered to be an extension of the intruding plane and adopts the traits of that plane, with the exception of morphic and time-altering traits. Outsiders from the linked plane do not have the extraplanar subtype while in a wild zone, and they can't be affected by spells such as dismissal. Any spell that involves summoning a creature from the linked plane is extended.
Wild zones often include breaches between the worlds, cracks through which creatures can pass without the use of magic. These breaches take many forms and are rarely obvious; a tranquil pond could be a portal to Lamannia. To recognize a wild zone or a breach, a character must have at least 5 ranks in both Survival and Knowledge (the planes) and make a successful DC 20 Survival check. Of course, a character can pass through a breach without being aware of its nature. Although many intelligent outsiders have little interest in visiting the Sarlonan wilderness, less intelligent creatures (fiendish or celestial animals, for example) are often found in these regions. Denizens of these planes that come to Eberron through a breach cannot leave the wild zone, either physically, by teleportation, or through any other method. The zone is an extension of the intruding plane, but natives of that plane cannot enter Eberron itself.
The energy of a wild zone has a powerful transforming effect on plants and animals. This effect can result in the appearance of creatures using any sort of appropriate template, or it can be the source of entirely new monsters—beings born from the fusion of the worlds. It's possible that lycanthropy began when a group of humans settled in a wild zone linked to Lamannia, and the forces of primal nature infected them. Effects can be psychological as well as physical; a creature that spends an extended period of time in a Shavarath wild zone could be overcome by a savage thirst for battle, potentially falling into a permanent state of frenzy.
No two wild zones are alike, either in appearance or effect. Although two zones linked to Mabar share the same foundation, one might cause the dead to rise, while the other could be filled with hungry trees seeking the blood of the living. In general, a wild zone appears as a fusion of the plane and the natural surroundings. A zone linked to Fernia is not a sheet of fire and lava, but it might include pools of lava welling up from the ground, balls of fire floating through the air, or trees that are eternally burning yet never consumed (unless removed from the zone).
When possible, the Edgewalkers create buffer regions a mile wide marking the edge of wild zones— slashing and burning any vegetation to provide a clear view. Depending on the danger presented by the zone, watchtowers or fortresses might be erected. In a few cases, entire zones have been surrounded with high walls. Edgewalkers have also been experimenting with fields duplicating the effects of the psionic power aversion; this work is still in development, and the power requirements would necessitate the presence of a hanbalani to maintain the field.
Dreamspace
Planar gateways that once linked Eberron and Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams, were sundered during the cataclysmic wars that destroyed Xen'drik and shattered the giant civilization. Since then, Dal Quor has been forever distant, and no stable manifest zones to Dal Quor exist anywhere on Eberron.
However, Dal Quor and Eberron remained inextricably linked by the state of dreaming—the process by which mortal minds travel to the Region of Dreams, and the subtle gateway through which the quori first began their conquest of Sarlona some fifteen centuries past.
Discovered short years ago and still known only to few, the dreamspace is an effect that appears related to this spiritual connection between planes, but one that as yet has no explanation. It appears as a kind of ripple of arcane and psychic energy—a border of sorts between the mortal world and the world of dreams. Where dream and reality touch, a vortex of shifting light and sound unfolds. The world as seen through the dreamspace appears as it truly is, but its colors are alternately muted and intense. Creatures who can see into the dreamspace observe shifting auras that surround living creatures and psychic or magic objects alike. Light and shadow bleed into each other, and an echo of unintelligible voices twists through the hiss of a never-ending wind.
Though powered in some way by the energy of Dal Quor, the dreamspace is a Material Plane effect. It is not simply a manifestation of the Region of Dreams, nor is it connected to the dreamscapes that ring Dal Quor, which are employed by the quori mindhunters and others who seek to hunt and destroy the quori on their home plane.
Some posit that the recent appearance of the dreamspace could be tied to the Inspired's monoliths. More than a few kalashtar believe that the hanbalani have a dark purpose—designed by the Inspired to help bring Eberron and Dal Quor coterminous once more. Where the two planes connect through the act of mortal dreaming channeled by the monoliths, they have begun to actually touch, rupturing and repairing themselves as the spiritual and temporal energy of each plane is drawn into the other. However, running counter to that theory is the fact that the dreamspace can be accessed from anywhere on Eberron, not simply on Sarlona, and that proximity to a hanbalan appears to have no effect on the dreamspace or the abilities that those attuned to it can obtain. Furthermore, certain spells and powers have effects that change when cast or manifested by the dreamtouched—those whose study of the dreamspace allows them to make contact with its otherworldly energy. Though the Inspired and the Keepers of the Word are constantly active in the development of new lore, clearly some of these spells and powers predate current knowledge of the dreamspace.
Regardless of its origin, different factions among both the kalashtar and Inspired distrust—some even say fear—the dreamspace. In particular, a good number of Inspired are said to be disturbed by the existence of a power connected to Dal Quor that they neither control nor understand.
History
The history of Sarlona is a patchwork of legends and truth, with as many pieces missing as are present. Years of war saw a great deal of Sarlonan lore lost for all time—histories of the conquered erased by the conquerors, who were themselves conquered in time. In the end, however, nearly fifteen hundred years of Inspired rule in Riedra have reshaped Sarlona's sense of itself. For Riedrans of today, the past is not a point of pride but a warning, and one does not seek the darkness that preceded the light of Sarlona's modern age.
THE ANCIENT PAST
The ancient prehistory of Sarlona remains as much an unknown as it does in any part of Eberron. The Age of Fiends, the giant explorers of Xen'drik said to have visited this land, the interest of the dragons of Argonnessen in Sarlona and their relationship to the Storm Lords—every piece of critical research has a dozen legends that contradict it, and every legend investigated uncovers a dozen more.
Sarlona does have one unique claim to the history of this lost age. It is thought to be the birthplace of the couatl. Certainly, this continent was a stronghold for that race during the Age of Fiends; couatl and shulassakar (feathered serpentfolk) ruins can still be found here today. Such structures are common in the province of Khalesh, but the Inspired go out of their way to prevent their exploration. In Syrkarn, the ruins were taken over by the feathered serpentfolk on a grand scale, and it remains uncertain how much of the original race's lore and history might have been corrupted or rewritten before the serpentfolk were put down.
Scholars sifting the legends of the Age of Fiends believe that three rakshasa rajahs are bound in Sarlona—one within the heart of Korrandar in Adar, one beneath the serpentfolk ruins of Syrkarn, and a third in the Krertok Peninsula of the Tundra.
Of the nonhuman races, four appear to have an extended history: the kalashtar, the skinwalkers, and the Dorann dwarves of the present day, and the serpentfolk of the Twelve Kingdoms age. The Dorann dwarves in turn gave rise to a progressive coalition of dwarf and duergar, the Akiak, who split from their kin to migrate south across the Tundra.
MYSTERIES
Precariously balanced among the planes, Sarlona has many wild zones and reality storms. These phenomena produce creatures and effects unseen elsewhere in the world.
A few veins of Khyber shards exist on the continent, largely in the hands of the dromites. Defying any logic, however, Eberron dragonshards simply do not form on Sarlona. Similarly, Siberys shards aren't found in equatorial Sarlona at all. Tied to this phenomenon is the utter absence of dragonmarks. Sarlona was the birthplace of humanity, and today humans make up the vast majority of the dragonmarked population, but no dragonmarks have ever appeared on the people of Sarlona. Early signs indicate that the children of dragonmarked parents don't develop dragonmarks if they are conceived in Sarlona. The Twelve has no explanation for this phenomenon, but many believe that it is one of the keys to the ultimate mystery of the dragonmarks and their purpose in the world
The lack of dragonmarks mirrors Sarlona's absence from the draconic Prophecy. The few human scholars and cataclysm mages who have been able to discuss the Prophecy with the scaled lords of Argonnessen have found the dragons to be utterly unwilling to speak of Sarlona. Some believe that this is because the dragons know of an inescapable catastrophe destined to originate from the continent. But others have a more disturbing theory. They claim that the dragons don't speak of Sarlona because the continent and the events that transpire there are completely invisible to the Prophecy, and this terrifies the dragons. Whatever the cause, the dragons clearly shun this land. Beyond the fabled Storm Guardians of Adar, the only dragons encountered in Sarlona are rogues. The Chamber has its agents in the land of the Inspired, but something—whether it is fear of the Inspired or fear of the Prophecy—keeps the dragons from coming to Sarlona.
HUMAN HISTORY
Of Sarlona's early human history, almost nothing is conclusively known. Several legendary human kingdoms and empires are said to have risen and fallen here, but only two of those—Aventus and Uoraala—have any scholarly acceptance.
Aventus is the common name for a land thought to be called "Aventuu'siana," though debate ensues as to whether this name refers to the nation or its legendary sorcererkings. Aventus is known today primarily through an aquatic race of the Sea of Rage called the aventi. Thought to be the descendants of Aventus, aventi have an oral history that tells the story of a kingdom brought down by unnatural devastation, then swallowed by the sea. The Aventus Islands now carry the name of the kingdom that reportedly once stood there. Those isles belonged to Khunan prior to that land's destruction and rebirth as Syrkarn; now, they are counted as part of the Riedran province of Rhiavhaar.
The Empire of Uoraala presents a tale at odds with much of Sarlona's endless history of increasingly advanced kingdoms razing each other and their neighbors. A race of barbarian nomads having no capital city and no fixed borders, the Uoraala are nonetheless thought to have forged an alliance of northern city-states that in time came to dominate Sarlona down to the Andnemun Desert.
The Uoraala were mercenary tribes of the steppes, their archers and cavalry in high demand among the northern city-states around what is now Rhialuun. But when those powers' insatiable demand for troops to throw against each other's walls ultimately resulted in each having more Uoraala mercenaries in their ranks than native soldiers, the war chief Uor (possibly so named after the fact) called on his people to turn against their lords. In a brutally short campaign, a simultaneous three-part military coup saw the creation of the new kingdom that bore its founders' name. The Empire of Uoraala is said to have stood for nearly four hundred years before dissolving in violent political infighting.
Of all the human history of Sarlona, one critical piece is known not because the Sarlonans kept a record of it, but because of its lasting repercussions beyond that land. Some three thousand years before the present age, a flotilla of ships left the land even then called Rhiavhaar, bound west across the Sea of Rage. The leader of this exodus was an explorer named Lhazaar. Though many Khorvairian humans are unaware that Lhazaar's expedition was the beginning of human society on Khorvaire, all know her name.
Recently, a controversial theory has been gaining favor in academic circles, seeking to explain why the tale of Lhazaar's expedition has always been an obscure part of Khorvairian history. Ellias Onsten, a little-known Korranberg Library researcher whose reputation faded even further after his death in 980 YK, was responsible for a revisionist look at Lhazaar's expedition.
Even prior to the end of the Last War, Onsten had studied the fragmentary histories of the sorcerer-kings of ancient Sarlona. To him, it had always seemed odd that the first waves of humans to reach Khorvaire had brought precious little in the way of magical knowledge with them.
Onsten observed that migrant populations typically hold to their former cultures at any cost—building new culture on a rigid foundation of the customs and traditions of their ancestors. However, almost from the first, the early humans of Khorvaire seemed intent on turning their back on the traditions and history of their former homeland. This led Onsten to conjecture that the first humans to settle Khorvaire might well have been a population that Sarlona did not want.
Today, those Khorvairians who know Lhazaar's story think of themselves as the descendants of brave explorers and seekers after glory. Onsten's less attractive notion is that the descendants of untouchables, criminals, deserters, and slaves instead people Khorvaire. The notion of slave culture was of particular interest to the scholar (and of particular abhorrence to his critics), suggesting as it did a reason why the early Khorvairians were so quick to enslave the goblins of fallen Dhakaan. In Onsten's view, the strong controlling the weak was the only world these human immigrants knew.
Onsten's hypothesis has recently gained ground among scholars. To them, a culture built entirely by people who have a vested interest in forgetting who they had once been might look very much like Khorvaire's—people turningtheir backs on the traditions that glorified those who had oppressed them. Many of the learned in Khorvaire sympathize with the idea of a people who turned away from the sorcerous traditions of their lords because those traditions ultimately turned their lands to ash.
Whatever the origins of Lhazaar's expedition, the second wave of human migrants to hit Khorvaire sailed west under better-known circumstances. Refugees fleeing the rising power of Riedra pushed east into the forests of Nulakesh, then beyond. These humans landed on Khorvaire's western shores, spreading into the Shadow Marches where they remain today.
TWELVE KINGDOMS
By the time Sarlona's history was finally codified, the continent's dozens of city-states had become a land of twelve kingdoms, remaining so through long years of conflict. Riedran provinces now bear the names of eight of those kingdoms—Dor Maleer, Rhiavhaar, Khalesh, Nulakesh, Borunan, Ohr Kaluun, Pyrine, and Corvagura. Where the steppes of Syrkarn spread, the four kingdoms that once stood there exist now only as names—Mae Khree, Sunyagir, Khunan, and Lamecha.
In northern and eastern Sarlona, the largest powers were Nulakesh and Corvagura, each the conqueror of a dozen smaller states and city-states whose names are lost to history. For much of the twelve kingdoms' early history, Nulakesh was the dominant military force in central Sarlona, building its rule on a fanatical and disciplined military caste. Though the sorcerer-kings of Corvagura were renowned, it was secretive Ohr Kaluun and majestic Khunan where Sarlona's sorcerous might truly rose and ultimately fell. Rhiavhaar on the west coast cemented its rule using a different kind of power, controlling the Sea of Rage largely by means of piracy and slaving.
Having stitched itself together from smaller territories, the inland state of Khalesh continued to practice conquest of a different sort. As a nation dedicated to the worship of the couatl, Khalesh had a long history of crusades and attempts at conversion (some benevolent, others less so) among its neighbor states. Likewise, Pyrine sought to spread its faith—a pantheon of nine deities known as the Sovereign Host—throughout Sarlona.
In the steppes and savannah of what is now Syrkarn, Mae Khree, Sunyagir, and Lamecha effectively orbited the more powerful Khunan, carving out specific niches for themselves (agriculture for Lamecha, horses for Mae Khree, mining for Sunyagir). At the same time, each nation made a point of maintaining armies and magical might just powerful enough to keep Khunan and the northern nations from getting any ideas.
The most unusual kingdom of Sarlona's past remains the oddest of modern Riedra. Borunan was and remains the homeland of "civilized" ogres.
Beyond the twelve kingdoms of old lay the Tashana wastes and the mountainous land of Adar. As the wars of the old Sarlonan city-states evolved into the wars of Sarlonan nations, these areas remained largely unaffected. As for the mountain realm of Adar, it had long been known as a place of refuge, a sanctuary for individuals or entire villages of refugees fleeing from the wars. Eighteen hundred years ago, on a date immortalized as 1 Age of Taratai, Adar received its strangest visitors—spirits fleeing from the plane of dreams, seeking human hosts. A group of monks agreed to provide shelter for these spirits, and the kalashtar race was born from this union.
THE SUNDERING
The arrival of the kalashtar was the beginning of the end for the twelve kingdoms of Sarlona. War raged in Dal Quor, and the enemies of the kalashtar were determined to bring the struggle to Eberron. The quori that served il-Lashtavar (The Dreaming Dark) were not prepared to sacrifice their power and individuality as the kalashtar spirits had, and this prevented them from directly taking hosts. But they could still manipulate mortals through dreams. They could give a paranoid king nightmares of a conspiracy, leading him to persecute his own people. They could send a charismatic general visions of justice, urging him to rise up against a tyrannical king. They could send two people dreams of love, ultimately forming a relationship and a child more suited to quori manipulation.
Starting 1,500 years ago, they did all this and more. Using fear, prejudice, and greed, the quori threw the kingdoms into chaos. For two hundred years, Sarlona was shaken by war. As one nation became stable, another would attack it, driven by racial prejudice or religious zealotry, or a new rebel group would arise within its borders. Terrible magic was unleashed. No human nation had the power to rival the giants of Xen'drik, but the wizards of Khunan and the sorcerers of Corvagura were mighty in their own right, and the lords of Ohr Kaluun were masters of divine and arcane magic. This period was known as the Sundering, and nations were shattered in its wake.
The quori used their power to set the Sundering in motion, and so they used their power to end it. After two hundred years of careful manipulation, they managed to establish bloodlines across Sarlona whose members were especially vulnerable to quori manipulation and possession—the predecessors of what are today known as the Chosen. They began a campaign of dreams, promising salvation to those who would follow their newly forged "Path of Inspiration." Soon, the first Inspired appeared. These beings had great charisma and impressive psychic powers, and to the people of the war-torn lands they were literally the answer to their dreams. The Inspired brought an end to many feuds, frequently by uniting former enemies against carefully selected scapegoats. The serpentfolk of Syrkarn, the shulassakar of Khalesh, the ogre mages of Borunan, and the mystics of Ohr Kaluun were all targeted in this way. Many were destroyed or enslaved; others fled to Adar, Xen'drik, or Khorvaire. Throughout these struggles, the Inspired extolled the virtues of unity. Within two centuries, the old traditions of the twelve kingdoms had been abolished. Where once twelve proud nations stood, now only one remained: Riedra.
THE AGE Of UNITY
Over the course of the next thousand years, the Inspired tightened their grip on the people of Riedra, slowly expunging the remaining traces of the old cultures. The Inspired moved slowly, making changes with each generation until no one alive remembered a time when life was any different. Through psychology, indoctrination, and control of dreams, the quori shaped a nation of slaves whose people were grateful for their chains, believing that the Inspired were their only shield against the horrors of the past and the outside world. During this time, several major events helped shape modern Sarlona.
The Syrkarn Migration
In one of the opening strokes of the Sundering, the nation of Khunan attempted to annex Lamecha, ostensibly for the southern ports that stayed largely free of Rhiavhaar piracy. Mae Khree, Sunyagir, and Lamecha allied against Khunan. As a result, a devastating period of arcane conflict known as the magewars ensued.
When it was done, great Khunan lay broken. In the aftermath, its survivors fled for the three victorious states or the nations beyond. Over the course of decades, tribes of ogres, half-giants, and worse crossed the Andnemun Desert, eager to occupy the ruins of this once-great land. In their midst, however, new creatures arose that had never before been seen on Sarlonan soil—the serpentfolk. More cunning than the ogres and half-giants, they quickly established dominance over the remnants of Khunan. Fragments of lost lore collected by Adar's Keepers of the Word suggest that sages of the day believed the serpentfolk to be magical mutants, descendants of the Khunani transformed into serpentlike aberrations that quickly rechristened their new kingdom "Syrkarn."
When the Inspired arrived on Sarlona, the whispered alliances they forged among the warring human nations were quickly turned against the serpentfolk. Syrkarn was invaded, and the serpentfolk were hunted to the point of extinction. However, even in the aftermath of victory, the human populations of Lamecha, Sunyagir, and Mae Khree were suddenly ordered out of their ancestral lands. In 90 Unity (—212 YK), thousands of people were moved and resettled in Khalesh, Dor Maleer, and Corvagura.
To this day, no official rationale for the exodus has been given. However, those who have attempted to piece together and connect the oral histories of the serpentfolk with the vague lore of the Age of Demons have suggested that in the course of eliminating the threat of the intelligent and powerfully psychic serpentfolk, the Inspired discovered a dark power behind their creation. A rakshasa rajah is trapped beneath the serpentfolk ruins of that land.
Abel Varmanc, patron and leader of the Korranberg expedition that bore his name, has gained recent notice for his attempts to collect the fragmentary lore of old Sarlona from Riedran merchants engaging in trade with Khorvaire. In academic papers and private debate, he has suggested that some lingering power from the Age of Demons was not only involved in the creation of the serpentfolk, but also in the destruction of Khunan that preceded that genesis. In his view, oral traditions describing the legendary devastation of Khunan bear an eerie similarity to the events in Thrane of 299 YK, when the rising of a terrible force bound since the Age of Demons gave birth to the Silver Flame through the sacrifice of a couatl and the paladin Tira Miron. Whether the destruction of Khunan was the result of abound fiend's stirrings or of potent magic wielded by the Khunani in their attempts to confine it once more, "Syrkarn" is the name the legends give to that dark presence.
The Madness of Yaruun
By 177 Unity (-125 YK), Riedra was firmly established, but memories of the old kingdoms remained, giving rise to lingering tensions. Then a series of devastating psychic attacks took place along the borders of Adar. The worst of these occurred in the city of Yaruun, where every inhabitant was left insane. The Inspired revealed that these attacks were the work of an unexpected enemy: the kalashtar, mortals who had given their bodies to altavars (evil spirits). Now the Riedrans had a focus for their anger, and thus was set in motion the long struggle between Riedra and Adar that continues to this day. After a few costly battles, the Inspired chose to place Adar under siege instead of trying to invade and conquer it. The Madness of Yaruun was the defining moment of the relationship between Riedra and the kalashtar, and it indelibly etched the image of the monstrous kalashtar into the Riedran psyche. Of course, the reason behind the attacks remains a mystery. The kalashtar have no records of them. It is possible that the Madness was staged by the Dreaming Dark to turn the people against the kalashtar. After a thousand years, the truth might never be known.
The Night of Razor Dreams
After Riedra was firmly established as a nation, the Inspired entered into a trading relationship with the Akiak dwarves of northern Sarlona. Duergar engineers helped the Inspired develop the first of the hanbalani (monoliths), which are an integral part of the quori's plan for Riedra and Eberron. In time, however, the Inspired no longer needed the dwarves. In 536 Unity (1 Lharvion, 234 YK), Riedra launched a surprise attack on the Akiak. Dwarf leaders were assassinated, and critical strategic points were seized. Within two years, the Akiak had been almost exterminated; only a few refugees escaped into the depths of the Tashana Tundra. Over the next centuries, the dwarves rebuilt their culture around a central precept—vengeance for the terrible crimes the Inspired committed.
The Xen'drik Trade
Starting around 876 Unity (574 YK), the Inspired became interested in acquiring dragonshards, crysteel-grade crystal, and other resources that were plentiful in shattered Xen'drik. A century later, the Inspired established the fortress-city of Dar Qat on the western coast of that land, sparking regular contact between the people of Khorvaire and the Riedrans. The Inspired had long spurned the overtures of Galifar, but now the two nations' ships met on the open seas. Initially, the Riedrans were prey for the pirates of Khorvaire. But as Galifar established its presence on Xen'drik, Stormreach became a neutral ground for the two nations, and open trade began.
SARLONA TODAY
The people of Khorvaire know very little about Sarlona. For the last thousand years, the Inspired have kept the continent behind a veil of secrecy, turning ships away and even shielding it from scrying eyes. Today, that situation has begun to change.
Following the outbreak of the Last War, the Inspired sent emissaries directly to the courts of Khorvaire. They offered many forms of aid, from food to medicine; one of the more tragic results of this trade has been the spread of the addictive narcotic dreamlily through the underworld of Khorvaire. Meanwhile, smugglers made contact with the Dream Merchant black market and found havens on the islands of Ohr Kaluun and the coast of the Tashana Tundra. Riedran textiles, Tashanan art, and many other exports are slowly finding their way into the great cities of Khorvaire, and charming Inspired ambassadors are fast becoming fixtures among the upper classes of the Five Nations. In 998 YK, the Inspired took the unprecedented step of unveiling a foreign quarter in their great port of Dar Jin, and allowing ambassadors and others who have legitimate business to come to this city.
Far more exists to attract the venturesome to Sarlona. The Akiak are planning acts of sabotage. The kalashtar and the people of Adar fear that they might need to take greater action against the Inspired, and soon. Dissident groups seethe beneath the stable facade of Riedra, from rebellious ogre mages to the Heirs of Ohr Kaluun. And in the deepest shadows, the Dreaming Dark continues to play its great game with the world.
Humans
As in Khorvaire Humans are the most prominent race though, in Riedra they are ruled by a group of totalitarian dictators known as the The Inspired and have been stripped of their culture and religion. Other humans live throughout Sarlona in tribes or as hermits and nomads.
The Inspired
The Inspired are the lords and rulers of Riedra, the Chosen vessels of the Quori manipulators of Dal Quor who use the nation for their own purposes.
The Kalashtar
The counterpoint to the Inspired, the kalashtar are voluntary vessels of Quori who know fully what they are getting into. They are usually limited to Adar if they have not already fled to Khorvaire to escape the Inspired.
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